Collins Complete Photography Manual

N/A

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Everything you need to know about photography, both digital and film, written by a team of experts. This comprehensive and superbly illustrated guide covers all aspects from basic composition to the latest digital know-how and digital darkroom techniques. Practical, inspiring and informative, Collins Complete Photography Manual takes you from choosing the right camera and understanding what different lenses can achieve, to creating the best possible composition. In addition, key techniques, such as image manipulation, are illustrated with stunning images and accompanied by easy-to-follow jargon-free text. There are separate sections on different themes, such as landscapes and nature, still life and sports shots, architecture, weddings, animals, and how to take a good portrait. In addition, professional tips throughout help you to avoid potential problems and show you how to get the best out of your camera and raise your level of photography.

Review by Ray (170208) Rating (8/10)

Review by Ray
Rating 8/10
Everything you need to know about photography, both digital and film, written by a team of experts... a brave statement for a book with only 256 pages in it I thought when I read the blurb on the back.

My background in photography goes back about 18 years so I naturally assumed that this book wouldn't teach me anything new. To be truthfully honest though I did learn some interesting information and indeed a few new tricks and techniques from this book and I would use it in the future as a 'drop in' reference manual.

Although for me it's not a book to be read from cover to cover. I feel unless you are a complete beginner to a camera and photography in general, this book is only ever going to be used for reference.

Having seen the word 'film' mentioned I'm glad to see that they kept this subject matter to a minimum as I feel this book would be bought more by the 'digital' generation but it's good to give them a history lesson! Chapter wise I found the first few chapters a little disjointed but it contains some great gems of information, albeit in my opinion strangely presented.

The chapter on lenses is superb and very well laid out but has accessories tucked in at end and this should have been expanded more. The themes chapter has some great photography but is slightly let down by dedicating about one page on average to each theme and some basic information, with the second page taken up by a full page picture. It feels more like an introduction of what to do with your camera than a ‘complete’ guide. The last chapter of the book dedicates itself to post production of images and details what the average person would want to do with their own photographs. It’s a very good introduction but there are many books around that detail this much better.

For a beginner to this book is a very good guide for leading you into photography, camera choices, the basic building blocks and techniques of taking photographs. For people with a bit more experience its best use would be more of a general reference guide.

This book could never be a 'complete' guide to photography in 256 pages but it tries very hard and succeeds in some places. Having said that I would still recommend this book for the complete beginner and amateurs alike.
Ray (17th February 2008)